[From Philly Tapped (see  pp. 89-94); thanks to Liudi Wang] [Image: Eric Welch and Kyle Stetz square off at “Beer Pong”] Beer Goggles Philadelphia Science Festival By Brendan Clay April 30, 2012 [snip] This is the second year that Yards [Brewing Company] has released a beer for the Science Festival, a 10-day celebration of science and innovation held at locations all over Philadelphia. [snip] Besides debuting Atom Blonde, the Science Fair mixer hosts exhibits and tech demos. The big hit of the night is “Beer Pong,” which is not the college drinking game, but a variation of the videogame Pong…

[From Information Week; a 1:12 minute video is available here] Leap Motion: Control PC With Hand Gestures Gesture-based computer interaction, as depicted in “Minority Report,” looks like it will soon become commonplace. “The Leap” peripheral lets you control UI elements using gestures made in the air. By Thomas Claburn – InformationWeek May 22, 2012 09:00 AM The mobile revolution has prompted not only new forms of computers but also new ways to interact with them. Apple brought touchscreens to the masses. Google introduced voice-based and image-based search in Android and iOS, and is presently working on augmented reality glasses.…

[From body>data>space, where the post includes a 1:23 minute video and many other images] me and my shadow by Joseph Hyde 10 – 26 June 2012 @ National Theatre, London “Teleport yourself into a deeply poetic experience. Connect and interact in a shared virtual space with people across Europe.“ Co-produced by in the UK by body>data>space and National Theatre as part of the EU project MADE, and connecting real-time audiences between London, Paris, Brussels and Istanbul, me and my shadow, by UK artist Joseph Hyde in collaboration with Phill Tew will premiere at the National Theatre from 10 – 26…

[From Wired’s GadgetLab blog, where the post includes a 1:46 minute video] [Image: A concept image of the Human Media Lab’s TeleHuman pod. Photo: University of Queens] 3-D Video Pod Delivers 360-Degree, Holograph-Like Projections By Alexandra Chang May 7, 2012 Imagine walking up to a tall, cylindrical pod, and talking to a life-size, 3-D projection of a faraway friend, family member, or colleague. And not only do you see the person in 3-D, you can walk a full 360 degrees around the pod, and see your conversation partner from every angle — just as if the person was actually standing…

[From MIT’s Technology Review] [Image: Reach out: In a clinical trial, a woman used a brain-chip system to control a robotic arm with her thoughts and reach for a drink of coffee.  The BrainGate Collaboration (braingate2.org) and Nature] Brain Chip Helps Quadriplegics Move Robotic Arms with Their Thoughts It’s the first study to show that brain chips can assist paralyzed people to perform complex real-world tasks. Wednesday, May 16, 2012 By Susan Young A paralyzed patient equipped with an implanted brain chip has been able to use a robotic arm to reach for and pick up a bottle of coffee,…

[From BostonInno; more information is available here] Proving History Isn’t Static, Giza 3D Premieres With a Virtual Reality Tour of the Pyramids May 8th, 2012 by Lisa DeCanio The Pyramids at Giza are familiar to most of us – we’ve seen photos of them on the pages of our history books and watched recreations of them in movies – but very few of us have actually experienced them in person. Now, though, you’ll be able to travel to Giza right from the comfort of your own computer. Today marks the premiere of Giza 3D, an interactive 3D recreation of the Giza Plateau,…

[From The Daily News of Newburyport, Massachusetts; more about the UMass Lowell SLICE program is available here and the detailed proposal for the sensory room is in a Word file here] A sense of reality New projects bring beach, ballpark to those with disabilities By Bruno Matarazzo Jr., Staff writer May 21, 2012 AMESBURY — The noise inside Coastal Connections’ Lower Millyard facility can be loud at times with all the activities happening at once. The open space at the nonprofit school in Amesbury bustles with energy as students with an array of disabilities work together with staff on different…

[From The Hollywood Reporter, where the story includes additional images and links to related stories] Peter Jackson Responds to ‘Hobbit’ Footage Critics, Explains 48-Frames Strategy Because the film clips shown at Cinemacon were not finished, he adds, “People haven’t experienced it yet in the way it should be experienced.” 4/28/2012 by Carolyn Giardina Shrugging off the mixed reaction that greeted ten minutes of unfinished footage from The Hobbit, which screened earlier this week at the Cinemacon exhibitors convention in Las Vegas, director Peter Jackson told the Hollywood Reporter, “It wasn’t particularly surprising because it is something new.” The Oscar-winning director…

[From DigitalAnalog; a 2:07 minute video is available here and more information is available from Mumbrella] Lynx Anarchy Promoted with ‘Invisible’ Videos May 9, 2012 Lynx, also known as Axe in many countries, comes up with campaigns that are risky and innovative. It’s hard to ignore them because of their sex appeal and the creative way in which the campaigns are executed. The campaign for Lynx Anarchy scored in both categories. ‘Invisible’ videos were used in Sydney to promote the brand. The windows of a building in Sydney were replaced with LCD screens. The visuals projected on these LCD screens were…

[From Design TAXI, where the story includes additional images a 3:51 minute video] Japanese Developer Creates Robotic Butt That Expresses Emotions 16 May 2012 Tokyo-based interactive developer Nobuhiro Takahashi has created a robotic butt that represents emotions in the form of visual and tactile responses. Called ‘SHIRI’, the human-like robotic butt expresses various emotions through organic movements of artificial muscles. SHIRI can twitch, protrude, and be tense—as reactions to a user’s touch, stroke, or slap.…

[From DigInfo TV, where the story includes many more images and a 3:39 minute video] Cocorobo intelligent vacuum cleaner robot communicates with its owner 8 May 2012 Sharp has developed a vacuum cleaning robot called Cocorobo, which uses the Cocoro Engine artificial intelligence capability. This product is the first in a planned series of robot appliances which can communicate with people. Cocorobo features a speech recognition engine developed by Raytron, so it can be controlled by voice, as well as using its buttons or the remote control. It has also been given the ability to say simple greetings, with the…

[From Fast Co.CREATE] Make Any Web Page 3-D With 3-D It! Developer Edan Kwan created a program that, when bookmarked, uses CSS to convert any website to glorious 3-D. Glasses optional. By Joe Berkowitz May 9, 2012 It started as a fun little experiment, in three dimensions. Edan Kwan, a developer at New York-based digital agency, Firstborn, had the thought that others might share his fascination with what websites would look like with a 3-D makeover. Lo and behold, pretty soon he’d created a program that uses CSS to do just that, turning 3-D into a verb in the process.…